The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) rejected a grant application from the Boys and Girls Clubs earlier this month.
That grant provided $1.45 million in federal funds to club locations around the state. ISBE distributes them.
The 21st Century Community Learning Center Grants provided funding for 15 programs, including two sites in Peoria and two sites in Bloomington-Normal. According to the ISBE, these grants are intended to help start or grow programs in community learning centers with a high number of students from low-income families.
The Greater Peoria Boys and Girls Clubs started in 1977 as just the “Boys Club of Peoria,” with a temporary location in the old Harrison Homes complex.
Now the organization operates three locations from E. Kansas Street, W. Grinnell Street and a clubhouse in the East Bluff Community Center. They also operate “numerous” programs in Peoria Public Schools based out of these locations.
The Illinois Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs says, taken all together, the 15 locations around the state represent 897 kids and more than 80 staff members.
Alliance CEO Awisi Bustos says those kids and staff members may end up without a place to go, without a solution to fill this funding gap.
“There is also the ability for the parents to have a place that’s safe and secure for their kids to go during the times that are, so that they can work,” Bustos said. “There’s a lot more. There’s jobs that are in the communities that are tied to these clubs.”
Bustos says the organization received this grant for the last ten years, in five year cycles. In a press release, the Alliance asserts that delays and funding mismanagement from the state board left clubs “scrambling for solutions.”
“Some of our clubs do programming like robotics. I mean, there’s resources for parents who bring their kids to our clubs,” Bustos said. “Our clubs provide a lot of meals to our kids, some of the only meals some of our kids receive throughout the day is from the clubs.”
Bustos says the organization is prioritizing supporting the affected locations through advocacy, spreading information about the funding gap and exploring possible alternatives.
However, with no immediate fix, these programs are left with an uncertain future. For example, a club in Freeport, Illinois already plans to pivot to a mostly volunteer staff.
“Our kids matter. They deserve us to keep the promises we make to them,” Bustos said.
